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As any significant awards ceremony nears, one notices a clamor for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.

A fellow writer previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil in the world of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.

To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.

Present Award Structure

The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, allowing placement for numerous titles.

Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.

Acknowledgment Issues

Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.

• One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated for anything that year
• Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
• Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
• Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for niche award types

Importance of Logic Titles

Frequently they represent compact experiences, yet the craft of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for many years.

The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.

The Solution and Justification

Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.

To emphasize again, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.